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April’s birthstone (in the precious stone range) is the diamond, but diamonds are not everyone’s cup of tea, nor within everyone’s budget. But you can give as a gift a lovely clear sparkly stone that is affordable and pretty without taking out a second mortgage: the rock crystal.

This macrocrystalline form of quartz is named crystal from the Greek word for ice, as it was believed that rock crystal was eternally frozen. It’s chemical composition is silicon dioxide, with no other chemical additions to give it colour. It is found all over the world, but the most important deposits can be found in Brazil, Madagascar, the USA and the Alps.

At Granary Knits, we have recently been adding some rock crystal items to the shop.

A single stitch marker, made from a rock crystal bead which has a lovely crackled interior, is available as both a knitting and a crochet marker.

A set of clear rock crystal marker are a welcome addition to the range of gemstone stitch marker sets currently in store. This set features five markers with three, four, or five crystal chips.

And finally, some smooth clear nuggets of rock crystal fashioned into beautiful earrings.

To celebrate the arrival of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, I have been designing some more spring-like stitch markers, and they are now available in store.

First, the Spring is Sprung set of knitting or crochet markers. This set of five features glistening golden beads, the colour of daffodils waving in a balmy breeze (currently here in West Yorkshire it is about +2 degrees Celsius, but I can dream!), and a lovely banded agate marker in the colour of purple crocuses. There are also plenty of charm markers – a sweet bird with a big heart, a cute rabbit peeking through his paws, a Tibetan silver flower bud about to open, and a graceful tulip.

Spring is Sprung

Apart from the golden bead and bird charm, these markers are also available as single markers.

April will soon be here, and April’s birthstone is the lovely Rock Crystal. As well as a single marker and a set of markers, I have also added a pretty pair of rock crystal nugget earrings. Beautifully polished and light-catching, these earrings are just perfect as a birthday gift.

Finally, a new line in Jewellery for your Knitting and Crochet – stitch marker holders. I do send a small free cloth bag with each order, to keep your markers safe, but a clip to hold them all together is a welcome addition to my range. I shall be adding to the designs over the coming months, but my first two holders have been listed today and feature either a large feather charm or a large heart with a cutout pawprint. I am always on the lookout for larger charms as they are ideal for stitch holders, so watch out for future shop announcements!

Today I have been adding to our already extensive range of stitch markers; a new set of six markers, and two styles of single marker are now in store.

TheChess Set of stitch markers features six lovely solid 3D charms in the form of chess pieces, one each of King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, Castle/Rook, and Pawn. Each piece is distinctive and rounded, and the set as a whole is available as either knitting or crochet markers.

The Crochet Queen is a charm I have been looking for for some time. Similar in shape and concept to my existing Knitting Diva and Knitting Queen stitch markers, these markers are slightly larger and flatter with a different finish. The Crochet Queen markers are a delightful addition to the range and I hope will find favour with crocheters; Crochet Queen is also available as a knitting marker.

Finally, to herald the Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, I have added the beautiful Tulip stitch marker. This is an elegant Tibetan silver charm, gracefully curved and finely detailed. It is available as either a knitting or crochet marker.

Another gorgeous gemstone features as this month’s gemstone of the month. Aquamarine is the birthstone of March, and as its name implies it is the colour of the sea. Aquamarine is a stunningly beautiful stone, semi-transparent to transparent, greenish-blue to pale blue, like the colour of seafoam.

Aquamarine is a type of Beryl and is related to emerald; its chemical composition is aluminium beryllium silicate, and owes its beautiful colour to iron. The most important deposits are found in Brazil, although it is also found in Australia, many countries throughout Africa, and China.

Here at Granary Knits, we use aquamarine in jewellery, both as single-stone pieces, such as these aquamarine earrings, and mixed with other gemstones and luscious glass beads to form individual unique pieces.

Knitted on silver wire, these aquamarine earrings are stunningSimple but effectiveAquamarine features in these beautiful rainbow pieces

Mothering Sunday, or Mother’s Day, is just a month away, at least for the UK; 26th March is the date this year (in the USA it is 14th May). As well as our fabulous selection of jewellery suitable for any occasion, Granary Knits is delighted to offer two new ideas in stitch markers for you to give to your Mum, with love.

The first is a single stitch marker, available as either a knitting marker or a crochet marker/progress keeper. It is a flat heart charm with the word Mother etched on both sides. I think this is a pretty stitch marker, especially for crafters who like to use a marker but not something too big or flamboyant. A quiet heartfelt statement.

The second new item in store is a set of six stitch markers designed for a daughter to share with her mother. It features glitz, colour, and lots of hearts! The central charm is a split heart, with the word Mother inscribed on one half and the word Daughter on the other; this forms two markers. Flanking this is a flattish double sided heart featuring Mother and a clear rhinestone on each side, and another of the same style featuring Daughter and a clear rhinestone. Finally, two lovely silver foil-lined heart beads in a choice of three colours – a rich red, a medium blue, and a glowing gold. You can have two of the same colour, or choose a combination of any two of the three colours on offer. With each order of this set, you will also receive an extra one of my pretty cloth storage bags so that you can give one half of the set to your Mother in a bag and keep the other half for yourself! The set is available as either six knitting or six crochet markers. If you would like a mixed set (three crochet and three knitting, for instance), please message me for a price quotation.

February’s birthstone is Amethyst, a beautiful richly coloured transparent to semi-transparent gemstone, ranging in hue from pale lilac to deep purple grape. It is the most highly valued stone in the quartz group, the most important deposits being found in Brazil. Silicon dioxide is its basic composition, coloured by traces of manganese, titanium and iron. Its name means not drunken in Greek, and was worn as an amulet against drunkenness.

I use amethyst in a number of pieces of jewellery; plain individual colours as shown in the photographs above, as well as mixed with other gemstones and glass beads to give a rich texture and colour to unique earrings and bracelets. To see my full range of Amethyst jewellery and stitch markers, please go to the Granary Knits Etsy shop.

The vast majority of knitters and crocheters go through life never having used a stitch marker. Even if they do need a marker for a project – to indicate a placeholder in a pattern repeat for instance, or to show where a round begins when knitting something in the round or crocheting in a spiral – they are quite likely to grab the nearest scrap of spare yarn, knot it into a little ring and slide it onto their needle or loop it through a crochet stitch. It doesn’t matter that it is cumbersome to use, won’t slip easily from one needle to the next, or gets inexplicably knitted into the fabric! It is only needed the once and can be discarded at the end of the project.

Old cheap earrings dismantled and about to be turned into stitch markers

If, however, you are like me, and you love knitting complicated lace patterns, or intricate Fair Isle designs, then you find you need a constant supply of markers, and the little yarn rings are no longer adequate, indeed they are shown up as the irritating awkward things that they are, actually impacting your creativity and slowing your productivity.

Bracelet charms, old earrings and pendants – all get used to create unique markers

I took up lace knitting about eight years ago and immediately found that I had to buy some markers, as the pattern repeats were difficult to follow and the yarn loop markers were inadequate. I bought a set of five markers from my local yarn store, which had imported them from a women’s collective in India. They were fabulous, colourful paper beads made from recycled material, and they worked very well, but there was one small problem; the large ring that slips onto the knitting needle was a jump ring, and with use began to open slightly. It only took a very small gap to occur and my yarn kept getting caught in the ring, and I had to keep stopping and disentangling the yarn before I could continue knitting. I bought a second set, this time online, and since they were specially modelled polymer clay, they were quite expensive – but they were in the shape of chickens so well worth it! I experienced the same problem – the gap in the jump ring eased slightly open and the yarn snagged. So the price didn’t matter, the construction was the issue.

My husband, whose hobby is electronics, came up with a solution; solder the jump ring shut. He did this for the first set I had bought, and when I saw how effective the result was, I asked him to teach me soldering so that I could make some more markers.

Knitting the Nightsongs shawl using dozens of markers to keep track of the leaf pattern

I riffled through my jewellery box and came up with a couple of pairs of fancy, cheap earrings, the kind you buy to wear on holiday and then push to the back of a drawer when you get home. They were easy to take apart, and each pair yielded six or eight charms or beads. Once attached to 8mm jump rings – and soldered of course – these provided me with a tidy number of stitch markers.

Since then, I have made hundreds of stitch markers, from old bracelet charms and earrings, to new charms and beads found in the stash of shiny things left over from my early attempts at jewellery-making. Most I kept for myself, but some I gave to knitting friends and they encouraged me to try to sell them.Since opening the Etsy store in February 2016 I have supplied stitch markers to USA, Canada, Hong Kong, France, Spain, Denmark, and lots to the UK.

Not content with making markers from charms alone, I now design and make themed sets of markers, around ideas such as Deep in the Forest and Dreaming of the Sea – two of my most popular designs. My customers appreciate looking at and handling beautiful things and these marker sets are beautiful! I have lots of ideas for more themes this year.

Dreaming of the Sea

If you have never used stitch markers before, then take a look at my article on How to use Stitch Markers to see just how easy they are to use and what the benefits are in using them.

Garnet is the birthstone of January, and what a glorious colour it is. Rich burgundy red, with a deep shine; garnets are like little nuggets of warmth.

Garnet is actually a group of stones with a similar crystalline structure – rounded crystals – and colour, a reddish brown. The name derives from the Latin for grain, granum, because of the rounded crystal structure and because of the similarity to pomegranate kernels. The basic chemical composition is aluminium silicate, and the gemstones within the group – pyrope, almandite, and spessartite – each has a different chemical addition which gives it its different colour. So pyrope is magnesium aluminium silicate and is red with a brown tint; this is the type most commonly sold as garnet. Almandite is iron aluminium silicate and is red with a violet tint; and spessartite is manganese aluminium silicate and ranges in colour from orange to red-brown.

You may think that an article explaining how to use something as simple as a stitch marker is superfluous to requirements but I have been asked how and why I use them, even by experienced knitters, and I have found that a short demonstration is usually enough to convert someone to using (or at the very least trying) these extremely useful knitting tools.

This short video shows me knitting a fair isle tam in the round. The pattern has eight repeats, and so I am using eight markers, seven are the same design marker; the eighth is larger and is used to indicate the end of the round. The pattern I am knitting is the lovely Winter Forest Tam available free on Ravelry.